1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technique for searching information, particularly to one that is suitable for use in a so-called embedded system.
2. Related Art
Search engines are useful for conducting information searches for large amounts of data, such as those accessed over the internet. A search method using indices is well known as a technique for implementing a search engine. “Apache Lucene” is a practical example of utilizing such indices. These indices are usually designed so as to run suitably on a general-purpose system, such as a server or a personal computer, which includes a relatively large size of available resources (for example, refer to “Lucene in Action” by Erik Hatcher and Otis Gospodnetic, U.S.A., Manning Publications).
In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of small portable electronic devices that can be used to search for information, such as so called electronic-paper with memory retaining displays, mobile phones, etc. Further, increasing demands for information searches are expected not only from such portable electronic devices but also from devices in all fields, which have embedded systems specific to particular applications.
However, embedded systems often have specialized structures used exclusively for individual applications. They are often equipped with inferior computing ability and smaller memory capacity than general-purpose systems. Embedded systems therefore are no suited for processing such known search techniques as described above, which are often computationally and or memory intensive.